Date: Jul 28, 2009                   Contact: Lt. Josh Nelson            (619) 316-4458                             

SAN DIEGO - For more than 200 years the U.S. Coast Guard has responded to distress calls at sea as quickly as possible as if it were an actual call for help. But every once in a while, some of those calls are found to be false alarms, or hoax calls, sent by people who willingly mislead the Coast Guard and other search and rescue assets for various reasons. What they don't realize though is that a hoax call could potentially divert valuable search assets from an actual distress case, and put rescuers unnecessarily in harms way while responding to the false call.

The federal law concerning false distress calls:

14 U.S.C. 88(c) makes it a federal felony for anyone to knowingly and willfully communicate a false distress message to the Coast Guard or cause the Coast Guard to attempt to save lives and property when no help is needed. Penalties include up to 6 years in prison, $250,000 fine, $5,000 civil penalty, and the possible reimbursement to the Coast Guard for the cost of performing the search.

Hoax calls affect everyone, including people who are not boat owners or part of the maritime community. Hoax calls affect:

-The U.S. Coast Guard by placing our men and women in danger by operating ships, boats and aircraft, responding to these false distress calls;
-The American taxpayers by wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. This is money that can be alloted homeland security and/or additional training; 
-Those really in distress at sea by interfering with legitimate search-and-rescue cases.

Anyone who knowingly and willfully commits a hoax or false distress call is fleecing America. The Coast Guard is working with the Federal Communications Commission, Department of Justice and other federal, state and local agencies to aggressively prosecute hoax callers and recover costs for the federal government on behalf of all taxpayers.

Coast Guard Assets and Average Hourly Costs:

The U.S. Coast Guard, as a matter of both law and policy, does not seek to recover the costs associated with search-and-rescue from the recipients of those services. While we must be mindful to employ a cost-effective response to an incident, response or distress itself must not be delayed or limited by the misplaced concern of "who is to pay the bill."

One of the exceptions to this rule is the perpetrators of false distress calls. One penalty levied on hoax callers is reimbursement to the Coast Guard for the costs of performing the search. This is determined by hourly standard rates for cutters, boats, aircraft and crew. The following are the hourly rates for San Diego-based Coast Guard assets (amounts include labor, employee benefits, fuel and maintenance costs and are based on 2008 statistics):

More than $3,452 for a 110-foot patrol cutter
More than $2,577 for an 87-foot patrol cutter
More than $2,739 for a 41-foot utility boat
More than $1,617 for a Coast Guard 25- or 28-foot response boat
More than $13,880 for an HH-60J Jayhawk helicopter

HOAX CASES THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES:

FEBRUARY 2005: Patricia Johnson, 49, of Selmer, Tenn., pleaded guilty October 27, 2004 in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids, Mich., to charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and making a false distress call to the Coast Guard. She was sentenced to two years in a federal prison and was ordered to pay $56,958.30 in restitution to the Coast Guard.

JUNE 2004: U.S. Coast Guard Seaman Apprentice Robert T. Tolson, assigned to the San Diego-based Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton, pled guilty to three charges and specifications related to making a false distress calls at a court-martial proceeding. Tolson was sentenced to receive a reduction in pay grade to E-1, the lowest enlisted paygrade; confinement for five months in the U.S. Naval Brig at Miramar, Calif.; and a bad conduct discharge from the Coast Guard.

MAY 2004: Coast Guard Investigative Services (CGIS) in cooperation with the Federal Communications Commission and the Northern California U.S. Attorney's office ended a three-year-long hoax-calling spree by Kurtis D. Thorsted of Salinas, Calif. He was sentenced to two years imprisonment and was order to pay $29,000 in restitution to the Coast Guard.

MARCH 2004: Everett A. Sawyer, a Gloucester, Mass. fisherman, pled guilty and was found guilty for violating the New Hampshire criminal law, "False Public Alarm," for knowingly communicating a false distress message to the Coast Guard. The Portsmouth (N.H.) District Court fined Sawyer $1,700.

MARCH 2004: United States District Judge of Western Washington District of Washington sentenced James Garrett Baldwin, 31, of Aberdeen, Wash., to 12 months and one day imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release for one count of communicating a false distress message to the Coast Guard. Baldwin was also ordered to pay $194.587 in restitution to the Coast Guard.

Follow link for video:

http://cgvi.uscg.mil/media/main.php?g2_itemId=620561

For hi res copy of video, contact Petty Officer Henry Dunphy at 619-278-7023.

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